RHODE  ISLAND  COLLEGE 
E AND  MECHANIC  ARTS. 

FOR  FEBRUARY,  1908. 


iED  QUARTERLY  BY  THE  COLLEGE 

MAY,  AUGUST,  NOVEMBER,  FEBRUARY. 


NTERED  AT  KINGSTON,  KHODE  ISLAND,  AS  SECOND-CLASS  MATTER. 


COMMUNICATION. 


From  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Rhode  Island 
College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts 
to  the  Governor  and  the  General 
Assembly  of  Rhode  Island. 


To  His  Excellency , the  Gov^nprv  { anxtihe  Honorable , the 
General  Assembly  of  the  State,  pf  Miokb  ' 'island  and 
Providence  Plantations : 

In  recent  discussion,  public  as  well  as  private,  concern- 
ing the  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts  at  Kings- 
ton, there  has  appeared  such  evident  desire  for  more  exact 
and  definite  information  concerning  the  institution,  its  history, 
character,  and  purposes,  that  it  has  seemed  incumbent  on  us, 
the  Board  of  Managers,  to  communicate  to  you  at  this  time, 
a somewhat  comprehensive  statement.  We  accordingly  beg 
your  consideration  of  the  representations  here  brought  to- 
gether. Ia  making  this  statement,  we  are  actuated  solely 
by  the  desire  that  you  may  come  to  a realizing  sense  of  the 
value  of  the  gift  which  the  general  government  is  offering 
to  us  and  our  children,  and  may  take  measures  to  make  its 
benefits  accrue  to  the  State  in  largest  degree.  The  gift  is  to 
the  people  of  the  State,  not  to  us  ; our  obligation  is  only,  in 
strict  conformity  with  the  law,  to  administer  our  trust  so 
that  it  may  serve  the  largest  number  in  the  largest  wav. 

I.  History.  The  story  of  the  college  begins  with  the 
U.  S.  land-grant  act  of  1862  which,  while  clearly  describing 
the  education  it  was  intended  to  subsidize,  bestowed  on  each 
state  accepting  the  provisions  of  the  act  a grant  of  30,000 
acres  of  the  public  land  for  each  senator  and  representative 


it  had  in  Congress  at  that 
Rhode  Island  received  scrip  for  120, 
land  ‘‘subject  to  sale  at  private  entry 
Brown  University  was  made  the  beneficial* 
fund,  and  so  remained  until  the  year  1894. 

Meanwhile  a desire  for  change  of  beneficiary 
and,  in  1888,  after  Congress  had  passed  the 
giving  to  each  State  $15,000  per. year  to  establish  and  hiain- 
tain  “ under  the  direction  of  the  college  or  colleges  


established in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  an 

act  approved  July  2,  1862  ” an  agricultural  experiment  sta- 
tion, this  desire  was  so  great  that  an  agricultural  school, 
presumably  meeting  the  demands  of  the  act  sufficiently  to 
enable  it  to  attach  to  itself  the  projected  experiment  station, 
was  begun  and  maintained  at  Kingston. 

In  1890^  the  second  Morrill  Act  gave  to  each  land-grant 
school  the  sum  of  $15,000  increasing  the  amount  by  $1,000 
each  year  until  the  yearly  grant  should  reach  $25,000  and 
continuing  it  thereafter  at  $25,000  each  year.  The  Agricul- 
tural School  at  Kingston  claimed  this  fund.  But  a Supreme 
Court  decision  invoked  by  Grov.  Davis  declared  that,  inas- 
much as  the  school  did  not  purport  to  be  a college,  it  could 
not  receive  the  fund,  and  that  Brown  University  was  at  that 
time  the  only  institution  in  the  State  which  was  entitled 
to  receive  the  money.  Brown  had  previously  offered  to  re- 
turn the  ’62  fund.  On  the  announcement  of  this  decision, 
however,  Brown  revoked  its  offer,  then  pending  in  the  vaca- 
tion of  the  legislature,  and  appointed  a committee  to  make 
contracts  with  the  State.  In  the  absence  of  legislation,  the 
funds  from  the  1890  act  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  State 
and  Treasurer.  In  1892,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  Rhode 
Island  Legislature  chartering  the  Agricultural  School  as  a 
college  (see  Public  Laws,  January  Session,  1892,  Chapter 
1078).  Section  2 of  this  act  gave  to  this  college  “all  moneys 
hereafter  received  under  said  act  of  Congress  approved  March 
2,  1887,  (the  Hatch  Act)  and  under  the  act  of  Congress 

approved  August  30,  1890 and  all  other  moneys  which 

shall  be  received  by  the  State  for  the  promotion  of  agricul- 
ture or  the  mechanic  arts  under  or  by  virtue  of  any  act  of 


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Congress.”  This,  however,  did  not  serve  to  settle  the  mat- 
ter. The  State  treasurer  was  enjoined  from  paying  the  sums 
over  to  the  treasurer  of  the  college,  and  after  a decision  of 
the  United  States  Circuit  Court  in  favor  of  the  agricultural 
college,  the  matter  went  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  While  it  was  pending  there,  an  agreement  was  reached, 
in  1894,  between  Brown  University  and  the  State,  and,  in 
consequence,  the  suit  before  the  United  States  Court  was 
withdrawn.  By  that  agreement  or  contract,  Brown  Univer- 
sity, in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  $40,000  paid  to  its  treas- 
urer by  the  State,  returned  to  the  State  the  fund  derived 
from  the  sale  of  the  land- scrip  hereinbefore  mentioned 
amounting  to  $50,000  and  released  and  discharged  “to  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations  all  its 
claims  upon  said  State  of  every  nature,  whether  arising  from 
the  location  and  sale  of  the  lands  under  the  land- scrip  men- 
tioned in  said  resolution  ( Resolution  for  settlement  with 
Brown  University,  April  19,  1894)  or  otherwise,  and  all  its 
claims  to  or  upon  the  moneys  heretofore  received  and  that 
shall  be  hereafter  received  by  or  that  shall  hereafter  accrue 
to  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations 
under  the  act  of  Congress  of  August  30,  1890,  mentioned  in 
said  resolution.”  By  virtue  of  the  previous  act  of  the  State 
Legislature,  these  funds  came  then  to  the  Rhode  Island  Col- 
lege, and  have  since  constituted  the  main  support  of  the 
college. 

II.  Organization.  As  at  present  constituted,  the  college 
has  three  distinct  departments,  each  independently  manned 
and  independent  of  the  others  in  its  purposes  and  its  sources 
of  support.  There  are  (A)  the  Experiment  Station  depart- 
ment, (B)  the  Extension  department,  and  (C)  the  Teaching 
department  ; designed  respectively  : (a)  for  the  discovery  and 
investigation  of  new  truth  in  nature,  (b)  for  the  dissemina- 
tion of  information,  direction  and  advice  among  the  people 
of  the  state  who  stand  in  need  of  it  and  cannot  come  to  the 
college  to  obtain  it,  and  (c)  for  the  direct  teaching  of  such 
branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts,  in  order  to  promote  the  ‘ 4 liberal  and  practical 
education  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several  pursuits  and 


4 


professions  in  life.”  The  work  of  the  Experiment  Station  is 
clearly  stated  in  the  Act  of  Congress  of  *L887  (Hatch  Act)  as 
follows  : It  shall  he  the  object  and  duty  of  said  Experiment 
Stations  to  conduct  original  researches  or  verify  experiments 
on  the  physiology  of  plants  and  animals,  the  diseases  to 
which  they  are  severally  subject,  with  the  remedies  for  the 
same,  the  chemical  composition  of  useful  plants  at  their 
different  stages  of  growth,  the  comparative  advantages  of 
rotation  cropping  as  pursued  under  a varying  series  of  crops; 
the  capacity  of  new  plants  or  trees,  for  acclimation;  the 
analysis  of  soils  and  water,  the  chemical  composition  of 
manures,  natural  or  artificial,  with  experiments  designed  to 
test  their  comparative  effects  on  crops  of  different  kinds, 
the  adaptation  and  value  of  grasses  or  forage  plants,  the 
composition  and  digestibility  of  the  different  kinds  of  food 
for  domestic  animals,  the  scientific  and  economic  questions 
involved  in  the  production  of  butter  and  cheese,  and  such 
other  researches  or  experiments  bearing  directly  on  the  agri- 
cultural industry  of  the  United  States  as  may,  in  each  case, 
be  deemed  advisable,  having  due  regard  to  the  varying  con- 
ditions and  needs  of  the  respective  states  or  territories.  ” 

To  show  the  line  of  cleavage  between  the  work  of  the  col- 
lege as  such  and  that  of  the  experiment  station,  note  the 
following  rulings  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  October 
25,  1897.  4 ‘ This  department  holds  that  no  portion  of  the  funds 
appropriated  by  Congress  in  accordance  with  the  Act  of 
March  2, 1887,  can  legally  be  used,  either  directly,  or  indirectly, 
for  paying  the  salaries  or  wages  of  professors,  teachers,  or 
other  persons  whose  duties  are  confined  to  teaching,  adminis- 
tration, or  other  work  in  connection  with  the  courses  of  in- 
struction given  in  the  colleges  with  which  the  stations  are 
connected,  or  any  other  educational  institution.  Nor  should 
any  other  expenses  connected  with  the  work  or  facilities  for 
instruction  in  school  or  college  courses  be  paid  from  said  fund. 
In  case  the  same  persons  are  employed  in  both  the  experi- 
ment stations  and  other  departments  of  the  college  with 
which  the  station  is  connected,  a fair  and  equitable  divisioh 
of  salaries  or  wages  should  be  made  and  in  case  of  any  other 
expenditures  for  the  joint  benefit  of  the  experiment  station 


5 


and  the  other  departments  of  the  college  the  aforesaid  funds 
should  be  charged  with  only  a fair  share  of  such  expend- 
itures.” 

Working  under  these  provisions,  the  experiment  station 
has  done  a vast  amount  of  valuable  work  for  the  State.  A 
prominent  educational  authority,  not  connected  with  the  in- 
stitution at  Kingston,  a man  of  high  standing  in  the  State, 
recently  remarked  that  the  results  of  the  station  work  on 
the  one  matter  of  the  action  of  lime  on  the  soil  have  been 
worth  to  the  State  far  more  than  the  total  expense  of  the  ex- 
periment station.  The  said  station  has  done  much  other 
work  of  equal  grade  and  value. 

The  first  two,  the  experiment  station  department  and  the 
extension  department,  it  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  describe 
more  circumstantially  at  this  time.  But  the  college  proper, 
the  wmrk  of  direct  instruction  and  training  for  the  young 
people  who  attend,  it  seems  wqll  clearly  to  define  and  delimit. 

The  two  acts  of  Congress,  that  of  1862  and  that  of  1890, 
are  quite  clear  in  their  description  of  the  kind  of  school  it 
was  intended  to  foster.  While  allowing  the  teaching  of  many 
things,  they  require  certain  things  quite  definitely. 

The  “leading  object  shall  be to  teach  such 

branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  Agriculture  and  the 
Mechanic  Arts.”  (See  Act  of  1862.)  “ Twenty- five  thou- 

sand dollars  to  be  applied  only  to  instruction  in  agriculture, 
the  mechanic  arts,  the  English  language,  and  the  various 
branches  of  mathematical,  physical,  natural  and  economic 
science,  with  special  reference  to  their  applications  in  the 
industries  of  life  and  to  the  facilities  for  such  instruction.” 
(See  act  approved  August  30,  1890.)  “Fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars to  be  applied  only  for  the  purposes  of  the  agricultural 
colleges  as  defined  and  limited  in  the  Act  of  Congress,  ap- 
proved July  2,  1862,  and  the  Act  of  Congress  approved 
August  30,  1890.”  ( See  Nelson  amendment  to  the  Agricul- 

tural Appropriation  Act  approved  March  4,  1907.) 

The  instruction,  too,  must  be  of  collegiate  grade.  “An 
act  donating  public  lands  to  the  several  States  and  Territo- 
ries which  may  provide  colleges  for  the  benefit  of  Agriculture 
and  the  Mechanic  Arts.”  (See  Act  approved  July  2,  1862.) 


6 


That  the  word  college  is  used  advisedly  is  shown  by  the  pro- 
vision that  the  funds  shall  be  divided  in  certain  States  be- 
tween “ one  college  for  the  white  students”  and  one  institution 

for  colored  students  ” “ however  named  or  styled,” 

“the  fullfillment  of  the  foregoing  provisions  shall  be  taken 
as  a compliance  with  the  provisions  in  reference  to  separate 
colleges  for  white  and  colored  students.”  (See  Act  approved 
August  30,  1890.) 

These  colleges  are  required  to  include  both  engineering  and 
agriculture.  This  is  shown,  first,  by  the  language  of  the 
Acts — “such  branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  Agricul- 
ture and  the  Mechanic  Arts”  (See  Act  of  1862.)  The  Act 
of  1890  distinctly  specifies  and  enumerates  what  subjects 
shall  be  taught  and  names  immediately  after  agriculture 
“the  mechanic  arts.”  Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  the 
intention  was  to  include  provision  for  the  two  great  indus- 
trial classes,  viz. ; the  farmer  and  the  mechanic.  We  have 
previously  noted  the  fact  that  the  instruction  is  to  he  of  col- 
legiate grade.  Now  when  you  have  instruction  in  mechanic 
arts  of  collegiate  grade,  it  must  inevitably  be  what  is  techni- 
cally called  engineering. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  shown  by  the  interpretation  placed 
on  the  wording  of  the  bills  by  their  author,  Senator  Morrill, 
in  his  speeches  in  advocacy  of  the  bills.  fi  ‘ The  most  advanced 
studies  were  not,  it  will  be  remembered,  to  be  excluded  from 
these  colleges,  yet  they  must  not  fall  short  in  the  branches 
related  to  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts,  but  must  lead  in 
the  highest  instruction  asked  for  by  the  industrial  classes , 
which  have  made  and  must  keep  our  country  foremost  in 
character,  wealth  and  power  among  nations.”  ( See  speech 
of  Senator  Justin  S.  Morrill,  June  14,  1890.) 

Thirdly,  it  is  shown  by  the  interpretation  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Education  whose  form  of  report  provides  separate 
categories  for  required  statistics  on  mechanical  and  other 
phases  of  engineering.  (See  form  of  report  appended.) 

Finally,  it  is  shown  by  the  practice  of  every  state  that  has 
this  grant.  Every  state  and  territory  in  the  United  States 
has  provided  for  engineering  courses  under  the  land-grant 
act,  with  the  exception  of  Connecticut,  which,  after  having 


paid  to  Yale  University  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  as  the  price  of  withdrawing  the  national  aid,  has 
ceased  to  subsidize  said  University  with  a portion  of  the 
United  States  fund  in  return  for  scholarships  in  the  Sheffield 
Scientific  School,  and  is  now  establishing  a mechanical  de- 
partment at  the  Agricultural  College  at  Storrs,  according  to 
oral  information  received  from  the  president  of  that  school. 
The  only  other  land-grant  college  which  does  not  combine  agri- 
cultural courses  with  engineering  courses  is  Massachusetts.  In 
that  state  the  engineering  work  is  done  by  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology,  and  the  land-grant  funds  are  ac- 
cordingly divided. 

From  this  discussion,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  required  work 
of  land-grant  colleges  consists  of  collegiate  training  (a)  in 
agriculture,  (b)  in  engineering.  In  conformity  with  these 
requirements,  the  faculty  of  the  Rhode  Island  College  of 
Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts  have  arranged  the  courses  for 
such  collegiate  work.  They  demand  for  entrance  on  the  said 
collegiate  work  such  preparation  as  is  needed  for  the  success- 
ful prosecution  of  the  specific  subjects  involved  in  the  said 
courses,  and  no  others.  While  they  earnestly  advise  all 
young  people  whose  circumstances  will  permit  such  a course 
to  remain  in  the  high  school  for  four  full  years,  irrespective 
of  whether  all  the  subjects  pursued  are  needed  in  prosecuting 
the  work  of  this  college,  yet  since,  up  to  the  present  time, 
secondary  schools  of  a character  adapted  to  prepare  directly 
for  our  collegiate  forms  of  industrial  and  technical  training 
have  not  been  established  in  any  considerable  number  through- 
out the  country,  and  since  it  is  of  vital  importance  to  the 
industrial  classes  for  whom  the  land-grant  schools  were  es- 
tablished, that  the  institution  should  not  be  unnecessarily 
difficult  of  access  for  members  of  said  classes,  both  farmers 
and  mechanics,  this  college  makes  no  requirement  touching 
the  mere  number  of  years  spent  in  the  high  school,  asking 
only  that  the  applicant  show  evidence  of  satisfactory  attain- 
ment (a)  in  English  (usual  college  entrance  requirements, — 
the  main  stress,  however,  not  on  knowledge  of  the  authors 
and  writings  presented,  but  on  the  ability  and  ease  shown  in 
correct,  accurate,  well  ordered  and  forceful  expression);  (b)  in 


8 


algebra  through  quadratics;  (c)  in  plane  geometry;  (d)  in 
elementary  German  or  French  ; (e)  in  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  physics  (or  the  equivalent  in  some  other  science) ; (f ) 
in  history  (one  full  year  of  high  school  work  on  history,  an- 
cient, mediaeval,  modern,  or — specifically  and  preferably — 
English.) 

The  work  of  the  courses  themselves  is  planned,  not  for  the 
man  who  intends  to  carry  his  formal  education  on  into  the 
graduate  field  at  this  or  some  other  school,  but  for  the  pur- 
pose of  turning  out  young  people  who,  under  direction,  will 
be  able  to  carry  out  actual  industrial  work,  either  in  field,  or 
shop,  or  office,  with  that  trained  intelligence  and  ready  skill 
so  much  in  demand  to-day  ; gradually  acquiring,  in  actual 
practice,  the  experienced  and  trustworthy  judgment  and  ripe 
self-reliance  necessary  for  successful  command  in  due  time. 
The  courses,  too,  provide  for  the  development  of  the  whole 
nature,  physical,  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual,  intimately 
combining,  throughout  all  their  range,  the  vocational  theory, 
science,  and  practice,  with  the  historical,  economic,  linguistic 
and  literary  work  that  are  of  the  first  importance  in  shaping 
the  youth  as  neighbor,  citizen  and  man. 

In  order  to  be  of  still  larger  service  to  the  industrial  classes 
the  college  has  projected  and  is  carrying  on  a number  of 
short  courses  and  special  courses  in  agriculture  and  mechanic 
arts,  from  six  weeks  to  two  years  in  length,  wherein  purely 
practical  vocational  information  and  such  hand  and  brain 
training  as  is  possible  are  given  for  the  single  purpose  of  im- 
parting day  by  day  increased  efficiency  for  definite  tasks. 
For  these  courses  no  entrance  requirements  other  than  the 
most  elementary  education  is  made  ; and  they  are  in  no 
sense  preparatory  for  degree  courses. 

Value  of  the  Work. 

The  best  measure  of  the  value  of  such  courses  is  obtained 
by  considering  the  funds  invested  year  by  year,  by  the  various 
states,  in  the  maintenance  of  such  schools,  in  order  to  obtain 
the  full  benefits  of  the  land-grant  funds.  For  the  year  1905 
the  total  property  valuation  of  those  schools  was  eighty-one 


9 


and  a quarter  million  dollars.  They  had  buildings  valued  at 
twenty-eight  millions,  apparatus  and  machinery  amounting 
to  four  and  a half  millions,  and  libraries  worth  two  and  a 
half  millions.  The  maintenance  funds  from  the  United 
States  amounted  to  two  million  dollars,  while  the  states  con- 
tributed nearly  six  million  dollars  to  the  same  schools  ; that 
is  to  say,  the  states  contributed  66f%  of  the  total  amount 
going  to  these  schools.  A recent  statement  from  Congress- 
man C.  R.  Davis  is  to  the  effect  that,  during  the  year  1907, 
while  the  amount  from  the  United  States  Government  has 
remained  practically  stationary,  the  appropriations  of  the 
states  have  risen  to  nearly  85%  of  the  total  fund  accruing  to 
these  schools  during  the  past  year.  From  the  very  beginning 
of  the  distinctively  land-grant  schools  forty-four  years  ago, 
they  have  steadily  fought  their  way  into  public  esteem  and 
favor,  and  now  hold  a recognized  position,  which  explains 
the  marked  advance,  as  measured  by  monetary  standards, 
from  66f%  to  85%.  The  Government  fund,  which  consti- 
tutes the  remaining  percentage  in  each  case,  did  not  decrease 
in  actual  amount,  but  the  15%  of  1907  was  $240,000  greater 
that  the  33^%  of  two  years  before.  Men  do  not,  over  an 
area  as  great  as  the  whole  United  States,  uniformly  spend 
their  money  in  a steadily  enlarging  stream  for  forty- four 
years,  unless  there  is  accompanying  such  expenditure  a cor- 
respondingly assured  and  widening  realization  of  increased 
return.  Over  areas  where  the  predominant  industrial  work 
is  manufactures,  as  well  as  where  it  is  agriculture,  the  posi- 
tion and  value  of  the  land -grant  college  is  assured  and  un- 
questioned. It  is  admitted  that  these  colleges  are,  in  a 
marvelous  degree,  serving  the  industrial  classes,  “ who  look 
only  to  a life  of  honorable  effort  and  labor  ; ” that  they 
operate  against  the  constant  tendency  “ to  lift  the  cost  of  in- 
struction out  of  the  reach  of  the  many,”  and  are  “leading 
in  the  highest  instruction  asked  for  by  the  industrial  classes, 
which  have  made  and  must  keep  our  country  foremost  in 
character,  wealth  and  power  among  nations.”  It  should  be 
recognized  (1)  that  this  State  has  the  same  industrial  classes 
as  have  other  states,  and  that  these  stand  in  need  of  the 
same  service  : (2)  that  there  is  no  reason  why  the  United 


10 


States  grants  of  money  cannot  be  made  to  do  as  efficient  ser- 
vice here  as  elsewhere  ; and  (3)  that,  if  the  service  is  not  being 
rendered,  such  fact  constitutes  a reason,  not  for  depriving  the 
State  of  the  benefits  of  the  grants  from  the  General  Govern- 
ment, but  for  investigation  and  re-adjustment  so  that  the 
largest  benefit  may  be  obtained  for  all  the  people. 

Resources. 

The  permanent  property  of  this  institution  was  reported  in 
1905  at  $331,000.  There  has  been  much  re-adjustment  and 
some  $25,000  worth  of  additions  in  buildings  and  equipment 
since  that  time.  Making  due  allowance  for  old  material 
discarded  as  comparatively  useless,  it  is  still  fair  to  rate  the 
present  permanent  property  of  the  institution  at  some 
$340,000.  Of  this,  there  is  a library  valued  at  twenty-three 
thousand  dollars,  engineering  apparatus  and  equipment  valued 
at  nearly  twenty- four  thousand  dollars,  and  agricultural 
apparatus  and  equipment  valued  at  ten  thousand  dollars. 

The  income  for  the  year  1907  was 

FOR  THE  EXPERIMENT  STATION. 

United  States  Funds: — 

(a)  From  the  Hatch  Fund  (cannot  be  used 

for  teaching) $15,000  00 

(b)  From  the  Adams  Fund  (cannot  be  used 


for  teaching) 8,000  00 

Note. — The  Adams  Fund  yielded  $3500  January  1, 
to  July  1,  $4500  July  1 to  December  31, 

1907. 

(c)  From  Department  sales 1,156  71 

(d)  From  Interest 135  14 

FOR  THE  EXTENSION  DEPARTMENT,  (exclu- 
sive of  teaching  department.) 

From  State  Funds: — Included  in  the  annual  main- 
tenance fund  of  $25,000.  (See  below.) 2,500  00 

FOR  THE  COLLEGE  PROPER. 

(a)  United  States  funds  as  follows  : — 


11 


(1)  Income  from  $50,000  land-grant  fund. . .$  2,500  00 


(2)  44  44  1890  Morrill  fund 25,000  00 

(3)  4 4 4 4 Nelson  Amendment 2,500  00 


Note. — $5,000  increase  began  July  1,  1907,  and 
yielded  to  January  1,  1908,  the  $2500 


mentioned  under  (3). 

(b)  From  the  State:— 

(1)  Annual  Maintenance  fund 25,000  00 

(2)  Repairs  (1907) 3,639  00 

(c)  From  other  sources  : — 

(1)  Tuition  for  non-residents  of  Rhode  Island . 885  20 

(2)  Laboratory- fees  (for  all  students) 1,546  72 

(3)  Incidental  fees  (for  all  students) 1,006  00 

(4)  Sales  and  service  rendered  (departments).  5,369  67 

(5)  Room  rent  in  dormitories 2,397  89 

(6)  Interest 320  31 

(7)  Miscellaneous 108  90 


Total $94,556  54 


Note. — It  will,  of  course,  be  understood  that  (2),  (3),  (4) 
and  (5)  are  gross  receipts  from  these  sources,  not  net  income. 

Expenditures  are  as  Follows  for  Year  1907. 

Note. — The  United  States  fiscal  year  runs  from  July  1 to 
July  1,  and  the  report  submitted  to  the  General  Assembly 
February  1,  contains  statements  for  United  States  funds  as 
presented  to  the  Department  at  Washington  ; that  is  to  say, 
said  United  States  reports  cover  the  latter  half  of  the  year 
1906,  and  the  first  half  of  the  year  1907,  while  the  reports  for 
State  funds  take  in  the  whole  year  1907  and  nothing  more. 
Consequently,  in  attempting  to  make  this  statement  for  both 
funds  cover  the  same  space  of  time  (1907),  we  have  made 
figures  for  expenditures  from  United  States  funds  for  the  first 
half  of  the  year  by  simply  dividing  by  two  the  amounts 
already  reported  to  the  legislature. 

Morrill  Fund  (1890)  : — 

Instruction  (January  to  July,  1907).  $11, 856  84 

\ I 


12 


) 

Text  books  and  reference  books ..  . $ 21  49-§- 

Apparatus 563  13^ 

Stock  and  material 58  53 

$12,500  00 

Morrill  Fund  (1890)  from  July  1 to  December  31,  1907  : — 

Instruction $13,292  42 

Text  books  and  reference  books.  . . 272  16 

Apparatus 911  20 

Stock  and  material 2,392  37 

Tools  and  machinery 12  30 

— $16,880  45 


Note. — Of  this  amount  $9,296.74  have  been  paid  from  cur- 
rent funds,  (See  statement  of  Current  Fund)  because  of 
closure  of  Union  Trust  Company,  where  the  whole  Morrill 
Fund  for  the  year  from  July  1,  1907  to  July  1,  1908  had  been 


deposited. 

State  Maintenance  : — 

Salaries $2,909  21 

Traveling 590  21 

Postage  and  stationery 621  91 

Construction  and  repairs 1,887  70 

Oil  and  gasolene 256  81 

Fuel 4,604  62 

Telephone  and  telegraph 322  86 

Feeds 851  92 

Freight  and  express 410  65 

Labor 9,426  70 

Fertilizer 405  42 

Commencement 325  12 

Horse  shoeing 116  79 

Seeds 150  67 

Laboratory  material 200  58 

Tools 203  64 

Furniture 95  15 

Books 46  75 

Lectures.  ......' 49  50 

Entertainment 324  14 

Pasturage 50  00 


13 


Dormitory  rental $ 40  00 

Advertising  in  publications  and 

circulars 433*03 

Miscellaneous 676  92 

$25,000  00* 

State  Repairs  : — 

For  repairs  and  improvement  (labor  and  ma- 
terial)  $2,371  53 

From  other  sources  (Current  Fund ) : — 


Salaries 

. . $493  06 

Traveling 

140 

11 

Postage  and  stationery 

96 

88 

Gasolene  and  oil 

68 

82 

Fuel 

4 

00 

Telegraph  and  telephone 

10 

87 

Feed 

8 

20 

Freight  and  express 

22 

81 

Labor 

..  1,958 

87 

Advertising  in  publications 

180 

32 

Entertainment 

182 

33 

Construction  and  repairs 

178 

61 

Commencement 

131 

62 

Laboratory  material 

18 

00 

Typewriter 

73 

50 

Miscellaneous 

182 

50 

$3,750  50^ 

Note. — Since  the  closing  of  the  Union  Trust  Company,  all 
projected  college  expenditures  that  could  be  deferred  have 
been  put  off  until  some  settlement  with  said  Trust  Company 


can  be  reached. 

Experiment  Station  : — 

Salaries ‘.$13,170  80 

Labor 3,241  36 

Publications,  postage,  etc 287  40 

Freight  and  express 131  54 

Supplies  . .x 1,785  90 

Library 580  65 

Apparatus,  fixtures,  etc 1,000  17 

Live  stock 443  50 

a 


14 


Traveling  expense, 


$ 556  65 
555  75 


Heat,  light  and  water 
Contingent  expenses . 
Buildings  and  repairs 


61  32 
1,115  30 


■$22,929  98 


New  Factor  Introduced. 


Your  Board  of  Managers  have  deemed  it  right,  at  the  pre- 
sent time,  to  ask  the  State  for  an  added  appropriation  of 
$75,000  this  year.  The  reasons  for  this  are  two-fold  : (1) 

The  institution  is  now  greatly  in  need  of  larger  accommoda- 
tions. When  the  present  dormitory  and  boarding  hall  were 
planned,  it  was  not  supposed  that  accommodations  for  more 
than  fifty  or  sixty  students  would  ever  be  needed.  The  school 
enrolls  at  the  present  time  152  students,  of  whom  127 
are  in  actual  attendance  at  the  present  moment.  We  are 
asking,  then,  first  of  all,  for  actual  present  necessities.  (2) 
In  addition,  however,  we  need  to  provide  for  the  immediate 
future.  The  income  from  the  1890  Morrill  Fund  has  been 
increased  the  present  year  by  $5,000,  and  the  same  amount 
will  be  added  each  following  year  until  the  whole  amounts, 
July  1,  1911,  to  $50,000.  It  seems  that,  with  the  doubling 
of  our  yearly  income  from  the  General  Government,  larger 
provision  should  be  made  for  students  who  may  obtain  ben- 
efit from  it.  The  fund  is  here  with  which  to  enlarge  and 
strengthen  equipment,  provided  roof  space  (for  which  gov- 
ernment funds  can  not  be  expended)  is  given  for  the  equipment 
when  bought,  and  for  the  students  that  would  use  it.  If  we 
would  use  the  nation’s  gift  for  our  own  benefit  and  for  that 
of  our  children’s  children,  we  must  treat  the  situation  in  a 
large  and  far-seeing  way.  It  is  a question  of  taking  the 
funds  and  providing  wisely  and  liberally  for  the  obligations 
which  they  carry  ; or  turning  them  back  into  the  national 
treasury  and  refusing  for  ourselves  and  our  children  all  ben- 
efit from  the  increased  grant — a grant  which  comes  to  Rhode 
Island  in  exactly  the  same  amount  as  it  does  to  the  empire 
state  of  New  York.  It  surely  cannot  be  held  that  we  have 
no  industrial  classes  to  benefit.  They  may  not,  it  is  true, 
themselves  appreciate  (at  the  present  time  or  to  the  full  ex- 


L 


f 


15 


tent,  the  tremendous  advantages  of  these  benefits.  It  must 
be  part  of  the  task  of  those  who  man  the  college  to  awaken 
and  extend  interest.  But  we,  in  the  conscientious  discharge 
of  our  duty  as  officers  of  the  Commonwealth  cannot  afford 
to  consider  only  the  immediate  present.  In  1862,  when  Mr. 
Morrill  caused  the  passage  of  the  first  land-grant  college  act, 
the  discussion  shows  that  not  one  man  in  a thousand  realized 
the  epoch-making  nature  of  the  movement.  Yet  recently,  the 
foremost  educational  authority  in  the  United  States  pro- 
nounced this  act  “ next  to  the  ordinance  of  1787  the  most 
important  educational  enactment  in  America.”  Knowing 
the  course  of  events  in  other  states  and  throughout  the  years 
since  1862,  and  trusting  to  the  future  for  confirmation  of 
our  judgment,  we  approach  you  with  the  firm  conviction 
that,  in  treating  this  matter,  we  are  dealing  with  the  factor 
that  will  work  most  profoundly  on  the  future  of  the  State. 
There  is,  in  our  opinion,  no  question  of  state  now  before 
you  for  consideration  that  approaches  in  importance  the 
question  of  adequate  provision  for  the  efficient  use,  now  and 
in  the  future,  of  the  national  grants  to  industrial  education 
in  this  State. 

A Pertinent  Example. 


In  re- shaping  and  renewing  the  vitality  of  educational 
thought,  no  school  in  the  United  States  has  played  a more 
important  part  than  has  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College. 
As  a model  from  which  to  work,  it  has  controlled  and  directed 
the  growth  of  great  schools  from  Maine  to  Australia.  Its 
graduates  may  be  found  as  progressive  educational  leaders  in 
the  majority  of  the  States  of  the  Union.  It  has  beneficently 
touched  and  shaped  the  destinies  of  that  great  state  in  count- 
less ways  and  at  innumerable  points.  While  we  should  be- 
ware of  servilely  copying  any  model,  however  excellent  in 
^self  and  in  its  own  environment,  yet  certain  points  in  the 
Jiistory  of  this  great  school,  we  may  well  consider  at 

age  as  our  institution  at  Kingston,  it  aggre- 
re  graduates,  .and  was  being  scornfully 

Lame  causes.  The 


16 


files  of  Detroit  newspapers  thirty  years  ago  will  furnish,  con- 
cerning the  Michigan  school,  almost  exact  duplicates  of  the 
letters  we  have  been  recently  reading  in  the  Sunday  corres- 
pondents’ columns  of  the  Providence  newspapers  for  and 
against  the  college  at  Kingston.  To-day,  however,  the 
Michigan  school  has  fought  its  battle  and  won..  The  state, 
last  year,  for  instance,  completed  for  its  college  a building 
for  engineering  exclusively,  that  cost  over  $120,000,  and 
this,  too,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  its  great  University,  sixty 
miles  away  and  supported  exclusively  by  the  state,  has  an 
engineering  department  superbly  manned  and  equipped.  It 
is  recognized  that  the  two  schools,  both  belonging  to  and 
maintained  by  the  state,' yet  serve  different  constituencies  in 
tin  state  and,  in  any  case,  the  fact  that  both  are  crowded 
demonstrates  the  need  of  both.  To  the  two  schools  together 
the  state  gave  last  year,  outside  of  its  gifts  to  three  normal 
schools  and  one  normal  college,  the  sum  of  $881,000.  Yet 
the  State  of  Michigan  has  only  four  times  the  aggregate 
wealth  and  five  times  the  number  of  inhabitants  that  this 
State  of  ours  has.  We  are  asking  this  State  to  do  not  quite 
one-eighth  of  what  Michigan  has  done.  Last  year  we  asked 
for  only  about  one  thirty-second. 


Conclusion. 


We  have  felt  it  our  duty  to  call  your  attention  to  the  mat- 
ters herewith  submitted.  We  earnestly  believe  that  the 
largest  interests  of  all  will  be  served  by  making  liberal  pro- 
vision for  the  school,  and  by  the, steady  maintenance  of  the 
lines  of  policy  now  being  followed.  It  remains  for  you  to 
consider  and  determine,  in  your  wisdom,  whether  you  will 
approve  the  principles  on  which  we  are  administering  the 
public  trust  reposed  in  us. 


Respectfully  submitted, 


J.  V.  B.  WATSON, 


Board 

of 

Managers. 


R.  B.  B!J1  A 


